The Portland daily press., 1887-10-03

senee Of good-breeding. and all the excuses
made for lapses and lessons are futile. A
well bred person may be as shy as 9 hawk.
and her limbs may be as awkwardly hung
together as so many crooked sticks badly
pinned All the same her good breeding
Will be evident, and neither her shyness nor
ner awkwardness will tell against IL.
Though II costs the well-knOwn agOnies to
sustain aeonneeted conversation, and though
lo,,,. oy tne very Iaet oil her shyness her brain
VIII run dry, she will sustain ii with the
NEST eOnsummate politeness, IL not ALWAYS
with the most iawless flueney She will put
a restraint ON herself. and talk her best. BAD
as that best may be, because she Is versed In
tRnEs @ Of fno otbsIys mystery o good breeding and
an ill-bred person, II shy, Is simply boorisb,
and takes no trouble 10 conquer the dumb
demon within him, but gives way 10 Il. and
iess soe1 y conquer him at its pleasure. You
Ieel that the excuse made for him or her by
those who want 10 smooth over asperfties
Win yarnlsh that excuse Of being so "dread-
iul shy Is no excuse at ALL For you know
0y experience how sweet and anxious 10 be
supple ana az ease-lor all the pain IL costs
her-ean be that well-bred bundle Of nerves
and fears, who Is as timid as hare and as
sensitive as mlm0sa, but also who Is as
thogghtfui for others as the boor is disre-
garding.
Good breeding is the current coin Of sOcie-
W. lie who Is bankrupt therein ought not
TO take rank with the rest The befaulting
Lombard had his bench broken In fun con-
claye, and was chased out Of the street where
his better endowed brethren carried on their
business. What the old money changers and
money lenders did with their defaulting
members, society ought TO do 10 the ill-bred--
10 the people who oppose all you say for the
mere sake OF opposing you, and not for any
thing approaching to a prineiple--whO con
tradict you fatty and do not apologize when
they are proved In the wrong-wiIO tell you
home truths OF bilious complexion and vim
egar aspect-who repeat illnatured remarks
made In their presence, or repeated TO them,
making you feel that you are seOrned and de-
spised you know not why. and villihed with
out the chance given you Of self Justification;
who abuse your own friends, and ascribe TO
them all the sins Of the decalogue; who bru-
tally attack your own principles IN religion,
morals, politics; who sneer at your cherished
superstitions and fall foul Of your confessed
weakness; who take the upper hand Of you
generally, not counting your susceptibllitles
as worth the traditional button. Such people
as these-and there are many Of them mas
querading as ladies and gentlemen Of good
position and irreproachable credentlals-but.
no matter what their lineage nor fortune,
they should be eashiered; and society would
be all the sweeter and more wholesome for
the want Of them.
Contrast those spiny hedgehogs, these ag-
gressiVe thornbushes, these singing mosqui-
toes and ramping tarantulas with their OppO-
sites-the well-bred and gentle folk who
never wound you, never tread on your cOrnS
nor offend your suseeptibllities In any way,
and who carefully carry out OF sight an their
own private little flags which may be your
red rags This Is not want of courage, but II
is good breeding. 1t Is not In any way neces-
sary that we should be always testifying,
blowing trumpets In the market place for all
men to listen-erying Oyezl Oyezl 0yez we
think so and so, and therefore must you con-
sent to hear, whatever the pain 10 your own
preJudiees; There Is no virtue In eontradic-
and vinegar aspect-in plueking the pea
cocks feathers from your crow, and showing
him to be very dingy little blackbird and
no royal king, as he made himself appear.
We all have 10 see and hear things we feel
we could "shOw up" II we had mind but II
we are well-bred we leave our friends to
their faiths uninvaded, and only IL we are
boorish, blatant and ill-bred do we take II In
hand 10 be the clumsy Ithuriels who will
show them the truth and make them vince
with the finding.